"We're gonna die! Team Rocket's crashing down again!"
"No! Maybe w-we'll be lucky! Maybe the basket wont tip, and land straight, then we wont fall out! This thing can float, right?!"
They seemed to have thoughtful expressions as they looked at each other. The water was almost upon us, we were pretty far from the island.
"Ahh! Brace yourselves!" I screamed. We all held on to a corner of the basket each, and the whole thing crashed right into the ocean, throwing us off like rag dolls!
We each flew in a different direction, and the balloon began to sink. I swam up and surfaced, taking a deep breath. Azura popped up too, floating thanks to her tail. She tried to help me swim towards the island. No sign of the other three either.. perhaps they're drowning?
I choked on the water, and tried to swim, when I saw Meowth's tail poking up above the water. I grabbed it and yanked him up out of the water, and he clung to me, shivering.
"I hate water! Especially wet water!" He coughed.
"D-Don't dig your claws in!" I winced, trying to swim. "Where's Jessie and James?!"
"Who cares?! Get Meowth to the land, human!" Meowth began hitting me over the head. I guess I had no other choice.
I swam until I reached the shore, and collapsed on the sand, out of breath. Both Meowth and I choked on the seawater as we sat there.
"Can the other two swim..?" I asked.
"Methinks so." Meowth responded, ringing out his tail. He didn't seem to worried, perhaps they were fine. I turned my attention back to the ocean, that's when I saw a hand poking up, waving around.
"It must be James, or Jessie!" I said. "I gotta save em!" I dived back into the water, and swam out. I pulled James up to the surface and dragged him to shore as well. He coughed up quite a lot of water, and I kept panting, as I scanned the water for any signs of Jessie. I couldn't see any.
I turned my attention back to James, as he tried ringing out his shirt. "I'm a-alive..!" He sort of laughed.
"I guess that repays my debt." I said, grinning at him.
"Huh.. you're right." He replied.
Jessie washed up moments later, she was totally out. James carried Jessie as the three of us explored the island, searching for any signs of civilisation.
We came across a tiny little town, people were inside, probably starting to get ready for bed. Luckily, there was a Pokémon centre, not quite as high tech as others, but it was still something.
We went inside and asked for a room, James was immediately told to leave, due to his Team Rocket uniform, and I made the mistake of saying "Oh, they're with me." and I was told to leave for having an association with Team Rocket.
So there we were, sitting on the outskirts of the town, while Nurse Joy had Officer Jenny searching for us.
"Where are we gonna stay now?"
"I'm cold.. I'm hungry.. I wanna sleep.." James moaned, dragging himself sluggishly across the road.
"Now wait just a minute!" Meowth said. We stopped walking and paid attention to him. "We're Team Rocket! Masters of disguise!"
"You're right Meowth!" James said. "We just gotta disguise ourselves!"
"... You know, if you just took off your Team Rocket shirts before you went into the Pokémon centre, like I said, none of this would have happened." I mentioned.
"Shut up imbecile!" James clenched a fist. "Why would we listen to a twerp like you! You ruined our plans, ever since you got on our balloon! Now we have to get a new one!"
"I told you, that was Meowth's fault!"
"Hold it right there!" A harsh voice called. We all gasped and turned around. Officer Jenny had found us.
"Not good.." James muttered.
"Team Rocket! I hereby place you under arrest for all the crimes you have committed!"
"Methinks we should.. run!" Meowth said, pulling on James.
"Good idea." James sent out Weezing. "Weezing! Smog attack, now!"
Weezing obeyed, and spewed out poisonous gas towards Officer Jenny.
"You just attacked an officer!?" I questioned. I heard James laughing as he ran away with Meowth, and Jessie in his arms, leaving me behind. "Hey! Wait!" I started to run after them. But Jenny zoomed through the smog on her motorcycle, and blocked my path. I stopped and stared at her.
"U-uh.. hi?"
"You're also under arrest!"
"W-what!?"
Jenny handcuffed my wrists in front of me. "For the association and supporting of Team Rocket!"
"Y-You've got it all wrong! I'm not a criminal!" However she didn't listen to me, and forced me to get on the motorcycle.
After a big, four hour-long interrogation, Jenny uncuffed my hands and let me go. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I didn't know that was the case. However associating with Team Rocket in any way is considered a crime."
"I understand." I replied.
"And I'm sorry to hear about what happened on that ship.. maybe I can arrange for a boat to pick you up and take you to Vermilion City."
"Really? You can? That would be great! That way I could find the SS Regional, and get my Pokémon back!"
After Jenny phoned up the docks, she returned and gave me some disappointing news. "Bad news, the last boat here has been stolen! I'm afraid there's no way to send you off until that boat is found, or another one arrives, which could be a long time!"
"What!? … Aww.. well, Azura.. looks like we're going to be staying on this island for a while."
It was well and truly late at night, so I returned to the Pokémon centre, cleared things up with Nurse Joy and managed to get a room to stay in overnight.
'Who would have stolen a boat anyway?' I thought to myself. I rolled over, and pulled sleeping Azura close to me. '…. wait.. could it have been Team Rocket!?' I narrowed my eyes. 'If its their fault I'm stuck on this island because they stole the last boat.. ooh! They'll pay if I ever find them again!'